- Administer some running records or review some recently collected samples.
- Examine each error.
- Make inferences about the strategies used successfully, attempted or tried and neglected.
- If any further action was taken by the student after the error, such as another attempt, re-reading or self-correcting, analyse this also. Attempt to determine what if any, additional information the student used to help them to self-correct or try again. Be alert to any patterns of reading behaviour. The reading behaviour, i.e. what the student does, attempts to do and neglects to do, when problem solving, is used to inform instruction.
- Consider also factors such as fluency and the general sound of the reading. Reading should sound like talking and the reader should adapt the pitch, tone, stress and volume to reflect the meaning of the text.
- Students are ability grouped for guided reading. The analysis for each reading group will assist to guide text selection.
- Visit your resource room or area housing guided reading texts. Acquaint yourself with the texts most suitable to your students. Note that guided reading texts should not be sorted into “year levelled readers”. As texts are selected to match students, it is possible for some students to require texts above or below average cohort levels.
- Browse texts to make choices for each guided reading group. The patterns of reading behaviour as well as your ongoing observations of students will assist in determining suitable texts.
That’s all for Part 2!
